In recent days, the White House has made it crystal clear that it\u2019s willing to endure significant economic turmoil and short-term pain in the stock market while it implements its economic agenda.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re seeing that pain right now\u2026<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 is down 10% since it hit a record high on February 19. The Nasdaq Composite has fared even worse. It\u2019s down 14% since that peak and has entered correction territory (a market correction is defined as a decline of between 10% and 20% in an index).<\/p>\n Some market watchers are even speculating that a bear market may have begun on February 20\u2026<\/p>\n Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council and President Donald Trump\u2019s top economic advisor said last Friday that the stock market and economic growth are not top priorities for the administration at the moment.<\/p>\n Other Priorities<\/strong><\/p>\n Instead, Hassett named three other goals the administration is focused on\u2026<\/p>\n And Trump himself said he\u2019s not watching the stock market, at least not in the short-term.<\/p>\n Of course, nobody knows what will happen. It\u2019s possible we\u2019ll soon get some clarity on the tariffs the Trump administration continues to implement and rescind on an almost daily basis.<\/p>\n But I wouldn\u2019t count on it anytime soon.<\/p>\n And don\u2019t expect Jerome Powell to come to the rescue with a \u201cPowell Put,\u201d \u2013 an interest rate cut that puts a floor under the market to prevent it from falling further. The Federal Reserve Chairman has made it pretty clear that he and his colleagues are just as uncertain about the impact of Trump\u2019s policies as everyone else and will wait to see what happens before altering the benchmark interest rate.<\/p>\n So, until the economic turmoil subsides, what\u2019s an investor to do?<\/p>\n That index is up about 10% year to date, while the S&P 500 is down 5.5% so far this year. If you followed the Oxford Club\u2019s Asset Allocation model and put equal weight into U.S. and international stocks (30% each), your international gains for the year would have more than offset your U.S. losses.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/dkwegfj7whlol.cloudfront.net\/oxford\/lw\/031125LTW-charts_bear.png\")
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